PROGRAM EFFICIENCY & COMPLEXITY ANALYSIS

Lecture 03-04

By: Dr. Zahoor Jan

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ALGORITHM DEFINITION

A finite set of statements that guarantees an optimal solution in finite interval of time

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GOOD ALGORITHMS?

Run in less time

Consume less memory

But computational resources (time complexity) is usually more important

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MEASURING EFFICIENCY

The efficiency of an algorithm is a measure of the amount of resources consumed in solving a problem of size n. The resource we are most interested in is time We can use the same techniques to analyze the consumption of other

resources, such as memory space.

It would seem that the most obvious way to measure the efficiency of an algorithm is to run it and measure how much processor time is needed

Is it correct ?

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FACTORS Hardware

Operating System

Compiler

Size of input

Nature of Input

Algorithm

Which should be improved?5

RUNNING TIME OF AN ALGORITHM

Depends upon Input Size Nature of Input

Generally time grows with size of input, so running time of an algorithm is usually measured as function of input size.

Running time is measured in terms of number of steps/primitive operations performed

Independent from machine, OS

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FINDING RUNNING TIME OF AN ALGORITHM / ANALYZING AN

ALGORITHM Running time is measured by number of steps/primitive

operations performed

Steps means elementary operation like ,+, *,<, =, A[i] etc

We will measure number of steps taken in term of size of input

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SIMPLE EXAMPLE (1)

// Input: int A[N], array of N integers// Output: Sum of all numbers in array A

int Sum(int A[], int N) { int s=0; for (int i=0; i< N; i++) s = s + A[i]; return s;}

How should we analyse this?8

SIMPLE EXAMPLE (2)

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// Input: int A[N], array of N integers// Output: Sum of all numbers in array A

int Sum(int A[], int N){ int s=0;

for (int i=0; i< N; i++)

s = s + A[i];

return s;}

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2 3 4

5 6 7

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1,2,8: Once3,4,5,6,7: Once per each iteration of for loop, N iterationTotal: 5N + 3The complexity function of the algorithm is : f(N) = 5N +3

SIMPLE EXAMPLE (3) GROWTH OF 5N+3

Estimated running time for different values of N:

N = 10 => 53 stepsN = 100 => 503 stepsN = 1,000 => 5003 stepsN = 1,000,000 => 5,000,003 steps

As N grows, the number of steps grow in linear proportion to N for this function “Sum”

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WHAT DOMINATES IN PREVIOUS EXAMPLE?

What about the +3 and 5 in 5N+3? As N gets large, the +3 becomes insignificant 5 is inaccurate, as different operations require varying amounts of time and

also does not have any significant importance

What is fundamental is that the time is linear in N.

Asymptotic Complexity: As N gets large, concentrate on the highest order term:

Drop lower order terms such as +3 Drop the constant coefficient of the highest order term i.e. N

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ASYMPTOTIC COMPLEXITY

The 5N+3 time bound is said to "grow asymptotically" like N

This gives us an approximation of the complexity of the algorithm

Ignores lots of (machine dependent) details, concentrate on the bigger picture

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COMPARING FUNCTIONS: ASYMPTOTIC NOTATION

Big Oh Notation: Upper bound

Omega Notation: Lower bound

Theta Notation: Tighter bound

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BIG OH NOTATION [1]

If f(N) and g(N) are two complexity functions, we say

f(N) = O(g(N))

(read "f(N) is order g(N)", or "f(N) is big-O of g(N)")

if there are constants c and N0 such that for N > N0,

f(N) ≤ c * g(N)

for all sufficiently large N.

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BIG OH NOTATION [2]

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O(F(N))

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EXAMPLE (2): COMPARING FUNCTIONS

Which function is better?

10 n2 Vs n3

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

10 n 2̂

n 3̂

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COMPARING FUNCTIONS

As inputs get larger, any algorithm of a smaller order will be more efficient than an algorithm of a larger order

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Tim

e (s

teps

)

Input (size)

3N = O(N)

0.05 N2 = O(N2)

N = 60

BIG-OH NOTATION

Even though it is correct to say “7n - 3 is O(n3)”, a better statement is “7n - 3 is O(n)”, that is, one should make the approximation as tight as possible

Simple Rule:

Drop lower order terms and constant factors

7n-3 is O(n)

8n2log n + 5n2 + n is O(n2log n)

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BIG OMEGA NOTATION

If we wanted to say “running time is at least…” we use Ω

Big Omega notation, Ω, is used to express the lower bounds on a function.

If f(n) and g(n) are two complexity functions then we can say:

f(n) is Ω(g(n)) if there exist positive numbers c and n0 such that 0<=f(n)>=cΩ (n) for all n>=n0

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BIG THETA NOTATION

If we wish to express tight bounds we use the theta notation, Θ

f(n) = Θ(g(n)) means that f(n) = O(g(n)) and f(n) = Ω(g(n))

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WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?

If f(n) = Θ(g(n)) we say that f(n) and g(n) grow at the same rate, asymptotically

If f(n) = O(g(n)) and f(n) ≠ Ω(g(n)), then we say that f(n) is asymptotically slower growing than g(n).

If f(n) = Ω(g(n)) and f(n) ≠ O(g(n)), then we say that f(n) is asymptotically faster growing than g(n).

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WHICH NOTATION DO WE USE? To express the efficiency of our algorithms which of the

three notations should we use?

As computer scientist we generally like to express our algorithms as big O since we would like to know the upper bounds of our algorithms.

Why?

If we know the worse case then we can aim to improve it and/or avoid it.

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PERFORMANCE CLASSIFICATION

f(n) Classification

1 Constant: run time is fixed, and does not depend upon n. Most instructions are executed once, or only a few times, regardless of the amount of information being processed

log n Logarithmic: when n increases, so does run time, but much slower. Common in programs which solve large problems by transforming them into smaller problems.

n Linear: run time varies directly with n. Typically, a small amount of processing is done on each element.

n log n When n doubles, run time slightly more than doubles. Common in programs which break a problem down into smaller sub-problems, solves them independently, then combines solutions

n2 Quadratic: when n doubles, runtime increases fourfold. Practical only for small problems; typically the program processes all pairs of input (e.g. in a double nested loop).

n3 Cubic: when n doubles, runtime increases eightfold

2n Exponential: when n doubles, run time squares. This is often the result of a natural, “brute force” solution.

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SIZE DOES MATTER[1]

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What happens if we double the input size N?

N log2N 5N N log2N N2 2N

8 3 40 24 64 256 16 4 80 64 256 65536 32 5 160 160 1024 ~109

64 6 320 384 4096 ~1019

128 7 640 896 16384 ~1038

256 8 1280 2048 65536 ~1076

COMPLEXITY CLASSESTim

e (

ste

ps)

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SIZE DOES MATTER[2]

Suppose a program has run time O(n!) and the run time forn = 10 is 1 second

For n = 12, the run time is 2 minutes

For n = 14, the run time is 6 hours

For n = 16, the run time is 2 months

For n = 18, the run time is 50 years

For n = 20, the run time is 200 centuries27

STANDARD ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES

Constant time statements

Analyzing Loops

Analyzing Nested Loops

Analyzing Sequence of Statements

Analyzing Conditional Statements28

CONSTANT TIME STATEMENTS

Simplest case: O(1) time statements

Assignment statements of simple data types int x = y;

Arithmetic operations: x = 5 * y + 4 - z;

Array referencing: A[j] = 5;

Array assignment: j, A[j] = 5;

Most conditional tests: if (x < 12) ...

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ANALYZING LOOPS[1] Any loop has two parts:

How many iterations are performed? How many steps per iteration?

int sum = 0,j;

for (j=0; j < N; j++)

sum = sum +j;

Loop executes N times (0..N-1) 4 = O(1) steps per iteration

Total time is N * O(1) = O(N*1) = O(N)30

ANALYZING LOOPS[2]

What about this for loop?

int sum =0, j;

for (j=0; j < 100; j++)

sum = sum +j;

Loop executes 100 times

4 = O(1) steps per iteration

Total time is 100 * O(1) = O(100 * 1) = O(100) = O(1)31

ANALYZING LOOPS – LINEAR LOOPS

Example (have a look at this code segment):

Efficiency is proportional to the number of iterations. Efficiency time function is :

f(n) = 1 + (n-1) + c*(n-1) +( n-1) = (c+2)*(n-1) + 1 = (c+2)n – (c+2) +1

Asymptotically, efficiency is : O(n)

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ANALYZING NESTED LOOPS[1] Treat just like a single loop and evaluate each level of nesting as

needed:

int j,k; for (j=0; j<N; j++) for (k=N; k>0; k--) sum += k+j;

Start with outer loop: How many iterations? N How much time per iteration? Need to evaluate inner loop

Inner loop uses O(N) time

Total time is N * O(N) = O(N*N) = O(N2) 33

ANALYZING NESTED LOOPS[2] What if the number of iterations of one loop depends on the

counter of the other?

int j,k; for (j=0; j < N; j++) for (k=0; k < j; k++) sum += k+j;

Analyze inner and outer loop together:

Number of iterations of the inner loop is: 0 + 1 + 2 + ... + (N-1) = O(N2)

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HOW DID WE GET THIS ANSWER?

When doing Big-O analysis, we sometimes have to compute a series like: 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + (n-1) + n

i.e. Sum of first n numbers. What is the complexity of this?

Gauss figured out that the sum of the first n numbers is always:

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ANALYZING NESTED LOOPS[3]

int K=0;for(int i=0; i<N; i++){

cout <<”Hello”;for(int j=0; j<K; j--)

Sum++;}

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SEQUENCE OF STATEMENTS For a sequence of statements, compute their complexity

functions individually and add them up

Total cost is O(n2) + O(n) +O(1) = O(n2)

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CONDITIONAL STATEMENTS What about conditional statements such as

if (condition)statement1;

elsestatement2;

where statement1 runs in O(n) time and statement2 runs in O(n2) time?

We use "worst case" complexity: among all inputs of size n, what is the maximum running time?

The analysis for the example above is O(n2)

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DERIVING A RECURRENCE EQUATION

So far, all algorithms that we have been analyzing have been non recursive

Example : Recursive power method

If N = 1, then running time T(N) is 2

However if N ≥ 2, then running time T(N) is the cost of each step taken plus time required to compute power(x,n-1). (i.e. T(N) = 2+T(N-1) for N ≥ 2)

How do we solve this? One way is to use the iteration method.

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ITERATION METHOD This is sometimes known as “Back Substituting”.

Involves expanding the recurrence in order to see a pattern.

Solving formula from previous example using the iteration method :

Solution : Expand and apply to itself :Let T(1) = n0 = 2T(N) = 2 + T(N-1)

= 2 + 2 + T(N-2)= 2 + 2 + 2 + T(N-3)= 2 + 2 + 2 + ……+ 2 + T(1)= 2N + 2 remember that T(1) = n0 = 2 for N = 1

So T(N) = 2N+2 is O(N) for last example.40

SUMMARY Algorithms can be classified according to their

complexity => O-Notation only relevant for large input sizes

"Measurements" are machine independent worst-, average-, best-case analysis

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REFERENCES

Introduction to Algorithms by Thomas H. Cormen

Chapter 3 (Growth of Functions)

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